Ross carries Sox offense to a win with two homers

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Daniel Bard kept it tied and Alfredo Aceves made sure the lead was preserved.

But none of it would have meant anything if not for Cody Ross.

The outfielder belted a game-tying two-run homer to left in the seventh, tying the game at 5-5, then provided the winning margin with a second homer -- this one solo, to the opposite field -- in the top of the ninth, personally accounting for the final three Red Sox runs in a 6-5 comeback victory over the Minnesota Twins.

"Game-tier and game-winner," marveled Bobby Valentine of Ross's exploits. "That was terrific."

Twins closer Matt Capps had retired the first two hitters in the top of the ninth when Ross stepped to the plate.

"I was just looking for a pitch out over the plate," said Ross. "I just tried to drive it the other way. I've faced Capps quite a bit (in the National League). He comes right at you. He doesn't give in. He lives out there (on the outer half of the plate), so I was just trying to drive it and fortunately, I got it up in the air."

The homer was the fifth of the season for Ross -- tops on the Red Sox -- and the first one in the last three seasons that he had to the opposite field. Ross is a notorious pull hitter.

"I hadn't seen (him go deep to the opposite field)" admitted Valentine. "I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised."

Two innings earlier, Ross had erased a two-run deficit for the Sox when he clubbed a ball into the second deck in left, more than 400 feet down the left field line off Minnesota starter Jason Marquis.

"Marquis didn't give me anything to hit the first two at-bats," recalled Ross. "He just kept pounding me in. He back-doored me on my first at-bat. Third at-bat, I just went up there looking for something in and dropped the head (of the bat) on it."

The two-homer game was the eighth of Ross's career and first since May 23, 2010. He has three homers in the last two games.

But individual heroics aside, it helped the team get a win on the first night of a week-long road trip and helped the Sox forget -- for a a while, at least -- their crushing defeat to the Yankees Saturday.

Asked how badly the Sox needed a win of any kind, Ross said: "Desperately. Everybody knows how tough it's been on us, but nobody feels sorry for us. We're just going to have to keep going out there and grind it out and play well. After a tough series at home and a tough travel night and to be 5-3 . . . it was a good one for us."

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